May the (U.S. Air) Force Be With You: Dodge Challenger Vapor and Ford Mustang X-1 Concepts

The U.S. Air Force has spent taxpayer money collaborated with Galpin Auto Sports, which is widely known through its involvement in MTV’s Pimp My Ride show, to create customized versions of the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Challenger pony cars. Why, do we hear you ask? Well, the Air Force needed something a bit more spectacular than your typical TV ads to draw the attention of new recruits. The result is the air-force-inspired white Ford Mustang ‘X-1’ and black Dodge Challenger ‘VAPOR’ that will travel across the country this year.

The ‘X-1’ Mustang features a ‘jet cockpit that includes a single-driver ejection seat placed centrally, short shifter, flight stick, and a high-tech instrumentation panel. On the outside, the heavily modded ‘Stang gets a wide bodykit, dark alloy wheels and a pair of Lambo-style scissor doors. Power is provided by a custom 4.6 liter V8 engine with 500HP, courtesy of Ford Racing.

The more radical looking Dodge Challenger ‘Vapor’ continues the air-force theme with a ‘Stealth’ bodykit, carbon fiber exterior trim, a custom stealth exhaust mode that gives the driver the option to run the vehicle in complete silence, one-off carbon-fiber wheels, radar-absorbing paint, proximity sensors, and a 360-degree camera with a quarter-mile range.

Like its Ford counterpart, the Vapor’s interior comes with aircraft style controls plus a passenger side steering wheel, GPS tracking, night and thermal vision via a film on the front windshield, and what Galpin calls, as the “most technologically-advanced computer system with remote control UAV-type access from anywhere in the world utilizing the internet.”